Foamy Dog Magazine - From the Back Row, A Poor Working Man's View of the Economy

Come into the movie theater with me and let's watch the Economic Movin' Picture Show. Let's sit in the back row; you can see the whole screen from here.

Some folks choose to sit up front so that they feel more like they are a part of the action. That's fun sometimes but when the plot is as thick as this one, it's best to sit here in the back so that we don't miss some of the subtle events taking place outside the center of the screen. Besides, if they get too loud up there, we can throw popcorn at 'em.

In this scene we have President Bush trying to stimulate the economy. Now some of the folks up front only see that he is supporting big business. They think that he is only working to benefit the rich. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX 30th) who recently appeared on The O'Reilly Factor let us know that she is one of these folks and she's shouting "it's only for the rich" at the screen.

Time to start throwing popcorn.

What she can't see up there is that when the big businesses are stimulated, so is the economy. This may be a little vague for the folks up front so let me break it down from this poor working man's view here in the back row.

Let's rewind the film a bit to the tax cut near the beginning of the Bush administration. Rep. Johnson seems to think that this was only for the rich. Since she was so close to the screen she didn't notice that everyone in the background benefited from this. Sure, the rich may have gotten a bit more but they also pay in a bit more. Folks up front may say that the working man only got a few hundred dollars back.

Only a few hundred dollars?

Let us remind the folks up front that "only" and "a few hundred dollars" don't often come together in the same sentence of a working person because that's a week's pay or more to us. That's a lot of popcorn to throw, even at theater prices.

But more to the point is the fact that the economy has to offer jobs in order to be healthy. The working man has to have a place to work. If big business is stimulated, it has more money. If it has more money to spend on its workforce, it can offer more jobs and/or better pay. And what do folks with jobs do? They spend money, this stimulates businesses and we can get into a healthy economic circle.

We have seen so many factories and other businesses (employers) shut down, especially in textiles. The Clinton administration saw to that. Now, the Bush administration has a big mess to try to clean up -- and the best way to clean -- is to start at the top and work your way down. They call it the Trickle Down Effect. Yes, it is going to take a while to trickle down to us but it takes time to clean up a mess this big and to do it right.

Speaking of cleaning things up, here's a nice tidbit from The Federalist about the clean up that is underway:

Most of the malfeasance currently under investigation occurred during the Clinton administration, only to be uncovered and punished by the free market and current administration -- and in that order! Since 1997, more than 1,000 U.S. companies have "restated" earnings after seemingly not being sure what the definition of earnings is....

It is our considered opinion that George Bush exemplifies among the highest ethical standards in Washington, though his 1990 sale of stock in Harken Energy Corp. had many in the Leftdemos and their Leftmedia cadres suggesting otherwise.

Here are the facts (for a change) on Mr. Bush's stock sale. Bush served on Harken's board of directors, and on June 22, 1990 sold his stake in the company, valued at $850,000. As a director of a publicly traded company selling company stock, laws required Bush to report the transaction to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which monitors the activity of U.S. corporations and their officers. However, the Bush paperwork was months late for filing the transaction with the SEC. (At the time, Mr. Bush was poised to sink his proceeds from the sale into his purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball team.) Five months after the sale, Harken stock lost 50% of its value, which at first glance looks suspicious. Nine months after that, however, Harken stock was worth twice Mr. Bush's selling price. The SEC thoroughly investigated and cleared Bush of any wrongdoing -- the report of the sale was inadvertently and inconsequentially delayed.

Our thanks to The Federalist for also watching from the back row. Sure it's nice to feel the action in the movie, but if you want to understand the plot, it's helps if you have a view of the whole screen. As for me, I'm going after more popcorn to throw before the next feature begins.

--Foamy Dog

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